S-Bahn steigen? S-Bahn einsteigen?
I'm studying about transportation and expression about that.
I see some sentences which use 'steigen' as 'take (transportation)'.
I searched in some dictionaries and it told me 'einsteigen means to take(transportation)
and steigen means 'to rise')
I found that in Korean-German and English-German dictionary both.

ex.
Um 9 Uhr steigen sie in den Bus.

Could you tell me what's the difference between with 'steigen' and 'einsteigen'?
And when can I use 'steigen' with transportation? I'll be really glad if you give me some sentences.

Waiting for your help. Thanks :)

Question

S-Bahn steigen? S-Bahn einsteigen?
I'm studying about transportation and expression about that.
I see some sentences which use 'steigen' as 'take (transportation)'.
I searched in some dictionaries and it told me 'einsteigen means to take(transportation)
and steigen means 'to rise')
I found that in Korean-German and English-German dictionary both.

ex.
Um 9 Uhr steigen sie in den Bus.

Could you tell me what's the difference between with 'steigen' and 'einsteigen'?
And when can I use 'steigen' with transportation? I'll be really glad if you give me some sentences.

Waiting for your help. Thanks :)

Answer

einsteigen vs. steigen:

In many cases you will be able to use either "steigen" or "einsteigen" when speaking about transport:
Sie stieg in den Zug = Sie stieg in den Zug ein.

"steigen" is mostly used as "to rise", "to climb", "to increase" - so for everything which gets up.

As you (usually - at least in old times) had to climb a couple of stairs to enter a train, we use "steigen" as well as "einsteigen", which more focuses on the fact, that the person than is "in" the train.

When the conductor gives instuction, they will always use "einsteigen": "Bitte einsteigen. Türen schließen".

Answer

Additionally to the other answers:

in den Zug (ein)steigen = to enter the train

to take the train (as a means of transportation, opposed to say, a car) = den Zug nehmen

Answer

"Steigen" by itself means to climb and is just a general word for that action.

"Einsteigen" means "to board" something, like a bus, train, etc. This word is mostly used in the context of transportation.

"Aussteigen" is the opposite of "einsteigen," so it means "to get off" something.

Remember, too, that einsteigen and aussteigen are both separable verbs.